Discussion

cleaning boiled-on coca cola from stainless steel pot

I tried boiling coke in a stainless steel pot a couple of times to remove burnt-on residue. worked the first time, but the second I didn't turn off the stove before the coke had evaporated...

now there's a seemingly impenetrable layer of dried coke on the pot. I've tried soaking it overnight in concentrated detergent and then going over it with those wipes you use for cleaning barbecue grills, but with little result.

what would people suggest as the next step? I'm going to try baking powder and vinegar

While I haven't heard to use coke to remove burnt on residue, I imagine that what you have on your hands now is essentially burnt sugar on the bottom of your pan. I would put a few inches of water in the pan, bring to a vigorous boil (watching it carefully) and it should dissolve.

My usual solution for burnt on food is to just boil some water in the pan and scrape with a wooden spoon, then wash the pan.

SS has a lot of disadvantages, but durability isn't one` of them. Why screw around? Go to the hardware store, buy one bag each of Grade 1, 0, 00, 000 steel wool. Start with the finest and work coarser until you find what takes The Real Thing off. Work your way back down, and you should be good as new. If you want to get fancy, finish it with Grade 0000.

YES! Oven cleaner on stainless is the way to go. We have a young cook who prepares demos for the shop on weekends. He burns the most horrid stuff on pans. Oven cleaner is the way to go with stainless or Le Creuset. DO NOT use it on Chantal, Swiss Diamond, Calphalon etc. It will ruin the surfaces. Only SS or LC.

Unless you have a canary in the kitchen, you can boil the pot with dishwasher detergent and water in it. If you have permanently damaged the bottom of your pan however, you will not be able to save your pan.

Run the vent or a fan if you boil with dishwasher detergent, and obviously, don't do this frequently. I have cleaned stainless doing this on several occasions.